The graduate student experience at McGill

Tag: Erik Delaquis

I have less than a month left in Montreal! In mid-July I’m heading to Western Canada to visit family, and then back to West Africa to start implementing my fellowship project over the next year. As the realization that this is actually happening REALLY SOON has crept up on me, I’ve been pondering what to… Read More Back to Senegal with Barack Obama

Hello Grad Life, I have been terribly negligent on here lately! Despite my best intentions, I’ve been too busy lately to sit down and type something out. The craziness surrounding the end of my M.Sc. has been augmented by a few things which all ultimately stem from trying to get the most possible out of… Read More Graduate opportunities: Strike while the iron is hot!

This weekend I scaled a 40-meter wall of ice with 8 knives attached to each foot and an ice axe in each hand, got smashed in the face by a brick of ice in -20C weather, and loved every second of it. I was one of 22 wonderful participants to go on the McGill Outdoor… Read More Getting on ice with the MOC

If (and this is a very likely if) your experiment involves lab work in any way, you can look forward to the joys of using lab equipment. Laboratory science is not like working in a wood shop; you usually don’t have the option to just sand off a little more to cover up your blunders.… Read More I now live in the lab

Tired of apples and oranges? Why not take a moment to whet your appetite for some nipplefruit, cherimoya, kura-kura durian, jujube fruit or miracle berries? The RIDM, Montreal’s international documentary film festival, wraps up this weekend. Making its world premiere at this festival was director Yung Chang’s ‘The Fruit Hunters’. Here the young director who… Read More A feast for the senses

Last month Canada expelled all Iranian diplomats and closed the embassy, leaving some of Canada’s 150 000 Iranians wondering where they stand. According to an email from the International Students Society, there are 262 Iranian students registered at McGill, many of which were at the Shatner building last week for a party put on by MISA,… Read More McGill’s Iranians: dancing at the crossroads

Ah, the joys of field research. Driving out under a blue sky through the rolling hills of the Eastern townships, it’s hard to think of a better way to spend a work day. It’s the many days like this I’ve spent over the last two years that make me feel lucky to be in field… Read More Yet more fieldwork!

A crack may finally be appearing in one of the most serious remaining barriers to equality in the developed world. Although much has lately been made of the divisions in our societies resulting from inequalities in wealth and social status, we largely ignore perhaps the most serious of all divisions: fundamental access to our knowledge… Read More Science freedom: a British proposal

Did you know that there’s a way to learn a new language while simultaneously benefiting the world by increasing global access to knowledge? Well there is, dear reader, and you need only read on to join the revolution. About a year ago I came to a very interesting conclusion: those speaking the English language have… Read More Learn a language, teach the world